Bishwashzjjx  ssachihb



Nov. 6 1923.,

J. s. LAIPHAM DISHWASHING MACHINE Filed July 51, 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet Nov. 6 1923.

J. 5. LAPHAM DISHWASHING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 31, 1920 Zlwuento? alike: we

NW. 6,1923. v 1,4733% J. S. LAPHAM .DISHWASHING MACHINE Filed July 31; 1920 s Sheets-Sheet 5 N Patented Nov. 6,, 11923.

UNETEE gTATES li ell ttl earner cert-ea.

I JARED $.MPHAM, F NORTHVILLE, MECHEGAN, ASSIGNOR 0.? ONE-HALF TQ JM EEQ '1'. Momelfiitllil', 0E TOLEDO, GHIO.

DISEWASHIING MACHINE.

Application filed July 311, 1920. serial- No. 4.003%.

3 To all. whom, it may concern.

Be it known thatl, JARED S. LAPHAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Northville in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dishwashing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to dish-washing machines, and has for its object a number of important improvements which contribute to more efiicaciously and expeditiously washing the dishes.'

Among these improvements is an improved impeller having its blades twistedto form opposed screw threads to give an endwise as well as upward direction to the spray, which more efi'iciently cleanses the dishes. llhe water being thrown alternately endwise in each direction more uniformly and completely covers the entire range of the dishes. Another feature that I consider of importance is the'disposition of the dish racks and the holding means thereon in such. a

-manner that the water is allowed to be thrown between the lower racks without materially impairing its velocity so as to reach dishes in the upper racks properl positioned to thoroughly cleanse and was them. With-this disposition of the dishes provision is also made to allow the dishes to properly drain so that the water that accumulates upon the dishes may, be drained off to facilitate the drying of the dishes.

A special arrangement is provided for holding the silverware and like utensils which both exposes these articles to the cleansing efiect of the water and at the same time facilitates their drying.

Another. improved feature is the use of a screen in connection-with the impeller in a position to act as a trap to catch and retain chamber which will be called the motor tom slopes on either side of the ridge toward peculiar form.

of the impeller to form a. guard g whic pre- I vents the. returning water from draining portion of the cabinet diagrammatically for the purpose of illustrating the throw of the water. 1 In a prior application #365,760 I have described and claimed some of the features that are contained in the present dish-washing machine, especially the self-drying bearings that are used to support the impeller shaft and the bottom construction of the dish-washing chamber, which serves to returnthe water at the ends of the impeller. This is described and claimed in this prior application and hence will not be gone into in detailv in this case.

Referring to-the drawingsfa indicates the cabinet, which is constructed of sheet metal or othersuitable material with angle iron reinforcements b at the side corners and at the bottom corners. Rubber-tired wheels 0 are fixed to one end of the cabinet, while rubber-tired castor wheels of. are provided at the other end of the cabinet. This makes the cabinet portable in the way described in my prior application.v

The interior of the cabinet is divided into which forms the bottom of the upper chamber which will be called the dish-washing chamber and forms the top of the lower chamber. It'will be noticed that at the left hand side of the cabinet this wall ehas a sort of center ridge, this ridge running downwardly toward the impeller. The hot the end of the impeller f. The portion of the wall formin the impeller well has a t rises at the eject' side.

back upon the impeller at the ejecting side so as to interfere with the throw of the spray. The water byreason of this guard g particlesin suspension to prevent their being and the slopestoward the ends is causedto thrown up again by the impeller against the dishes to be washed.

In the drawings-- Fig. 1 is aperspective of the cabinet, portions being broken away on theline 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. i is -a' -tiew which shows the upper in this catch channehand'it will be c vious ne return to the impeller well .5. at the ends; 31%

an upper and lower chamber by the wall e This forms a we the impeller on the non-ejecting side without in any way interfering with the throw of the spray.

The impeller is driven by a motor M located in the motor chamber. This connects with the impeller shaft by a suitable belt 70. The impeller is of special blade construction and is preferably built of only two blades. These two blades are carried by an impeller shaft and are originally opposite each other on the shaft and lie in the plane of the shaft. The one end of the one blade is then twisted through 90 degrees and the opposite end of the other blade is twisted through 90 degrees. This construction is nicely shown in Fig. 1. This in effect results in a double-threaded screw with oppositely-directed threads of relatiyely great pitch. Perhaps, it is better described as blades of oppositely-directed spirals. It will be seen, by reference to Fig. 1, that the blades at one end have a spacing of 90 degrees and.at the opposite end a spacing of 270 degrees (when considered in the same direction around the shaft). Obviously this produces an unbalanced condition at both ends of the shaft when the impeller is running.a condition that would tend to bend the impeller shaft at the middle and produce unduewear on the bearings at the end. This condition is rectified by the use of suitable counter-weights Z at opposite sides and ends of the impeller shaft.

Now briefly considered, the advantages of this peculiar type of impeller are that in dipping into the water in the impeller well it does not splash into the water but quietly dips into the water first'with the point at one end and then gradually cuts in itsfull I length. This operation of the impeller results in a stream of water that is directed alternately upwardly and toward one end and upwardly and toward the opposite end.

This insures the throw of the 'waterthrough' the entire range of the dish-holding racks. Its efficiency is easily determined by .the pattern the water throws on the under side of the cover, which shows that the water is thrown on the entire under surface of the cover exposed to the dish-washing chamber and the pattern of the spray shows a uniform throw at all points. Furthermore, with the dishes exposed on the dish racks, as shown in the drawings and which will presently be described, the angular disposition of the spray toward the ends of the impeller tends to better scour and clean the fiat ware while this same angular throw of the spray tends to better clean the hollow ware by setting up vortex whorls in the in-' terior of the cups, glasses, etc. Not only this, but a greater-"part of the water is thrown to the ends of the impeller by reason of these oppositely-directtwl spirals of the blades; hence the water returns to the im-.

peller well more quickly and directly.

Special attention is drawn to the arrangement of the dish racks, which makes for an even and ellicacious distribution of the spray. the under supports on suitably notched to hold the dishes. Aplurality of cross rods n located above these cross racks serveslo retain the dishes in a near upright position perpendicular with the axis of the impeller shaft and slightly spaced from'each other.

tinguish between two classes of hollow ware: Shallow hollow ware which approaches fiat ware in shape; and deephollow Ware, such as cups, tumblersand bowls. Shallow hol'ow ware,.or .even fiat ware, may be stacked with great economy of space by placing the first piece in an inclined position in contact with the end support bar 0 as illustratedat the right of Fig. 4 and succeeding'pieces in contact with one another.

ways left between the pieces lie approximately in the divergent planes of spray pro- The flat ware racks are formed by There are two sets of raclrs for-the flat ware.

.In this arrangement, the narrow passage-- jection,v which has been found to be 'neces--,

sary for thorough circulation. The same means are employed for the support of deep hollow ware, as shown at the right of Fig. 2 and the left of Fig. 4, .in. positions which expose the interiors to the direct action of the liquid stream's. (It will be seen that the same rack may be filled throughout with cups, for example, or.if d'esired with fiat ware, and a maximum number of pieces accommodated regardless of their assortment.

This is dependent upon the employment of.

the same dish-holding means in the upper rack for every type of dish. It will be seen from Fig. 2 that the .fiat ware racks are located above the impeller but are spaced from each other to'leave an open space above the impeller to allow the water to be'pro ected directly up into the hollow ware rack.

I However, it is not possible, ,within the limits of the cabinet of this size, to leave a large enough open space between the two flat ware racks to expose the entire range of the hollow ware rack to the spray from the impeller. Hence the flat ware racks are so arranged as to permit the spray to be thrown between the rims of the plates directly up into the hollow ware rack. This is nicely shown in Fig. 4:, where it will be seen that all the hollow ware there shown is exposed to the spray thrown from the impeller either directly through the open space between the racks or else between the rims of the plates. That portion of the spray which impinges upon the concave portion of the plates cleans these plates andis not thereafter called upon for any further cleansing .elfect whatever. The result of this arrangement of the rack is that, concentrated within a minimum space, each article to be cleaned has its own fluid stream projected directly against it with unimpaired effectiveness and unpolluted by intermediate contacts, and this is considered essential to successful washing.

At one end of the hollow ware rack is located a wire mesh basket u in which the silverware may be stood up on end with the aid of the loop-like rod 1) and the pins 41: secured to the cross bar 3 of the hollow ware stand. It will readily be understood in this position the silverware is much easier to handle, is kept separated, and, dries much quicker.

The wooden stands are all constructed ofmaplc or similar wood, which will not chip, nor is it affected by hot soapy water. The rods are preferably brass rods.

One important feature of my improve ment is that the impeller in cooperation with the trough in which it operates will throw a substantially equal amount of spray to each portion of the washing chamber. To accomplish this it is necjessary, first, {to guard against'interference with the outgoing spray by returning liquid; second, to provide means for getting the returning liquid into the path of the impeller blades; and third, to properly direct the throwing of the spray. If the impeller were the full length of the chamber or the liquid containing trough in which it operates, it would be impossible for the liquid to return thereto without greatly interfering with the outgoing spray. By making the impeller portions of the racks and.

the relative angles being such that the spray from one blade will extend from the wall of the chamber to beyond the center thereof, while the spray from another blade will extend from the opposite wall of the chamber to beyond the center. The combined efiect is to cover the entire width of the chamber and to throw this spray uniformly through out the same. Also, the shield which guards the ascending portion of the impeller blade limits the angle of the spray in the plane of rotation and guards against interference from returning liquid.

What I claim is: Y

1. In a dish-washing machine, the combination of a cabinet provided with a dishwashing chamber having at its bottom an impeller well which in turn is provided at.

its bottom with a drainage channel, a tubular screen located in said drainage channel, and an impeller located in said well above said channel.

2. A dish-washing machine having in combination a container, means for the sup port of dishes therein, a trough in the bottom of said container, an impeller rotatable within said trough comprising a pair of blades oppositely inclined to the axis of said impeller and of a length materially less than said trough, and means for directing the drainage from the side toward which said impeller revolves to the ends of the trough outside the impeller.

3. A dish-washing 'machine having in combination a container, means for the support of dishes therein, a trough in the bottom of said container, a shaft rotatable within said trough, a pair of. helicoidal blades of opposite twist and of a length materially less than said trough attached to said shaft, and means for returning the liquid on the discharge side of said trough to the ends thereof and beyond said blades.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JARED S. LAPlHAM. 

